Cabinet



Nov. 13, 1928.

' A. GRETH t CABINET.

Filed Jan. 22, 1925 Patented Nov. 13, 1928.

UNI-TED STATES PATENT OFFICE. i

AUGUST GRETH, or Los ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

' cuisinier.

p Application filed January 22, 1923. Serial No. 614,112.

carrying the books or articles may beeasilyV and quickly moved to bring them within easy reach, whereby the cabinet may be constructed of considerable height and whereby thel necessity and inconvenience incident to gaining access to contents of shelves that ordinarily would be diilicult to reach, is obviated. A further object is to provide a simple and reil'ective mechanism whereby the shelves may be readily raised and lowered. Another object is to provide a substantial supporting means for travelingl shelves and also to provide a construction in the endless carriers whereby the latter may be readily assembled and sections thereof easily removed and replaced in event of breakage or wear. 1 A further object is tok provide a construction whereby the carrier will' be held against rotation in event of unequal loads being carriedonthe opposite vertical lines of the cai rier. v

With theforegoing objects in view, together with such other objects and advantages as may subsequently appear,'my invention resides in the parts and in the construction, arrangement vand combination of parts hereinf after described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in *which- Figure l yis a view ofa cabinet ask seen in front elevation, portions broken away to show the interior of the cabinet. Y.

Figure 2 is a view in vertical section as seen -on the line 2--2 of Figure 1 in the direction indicated by the arrows. Figure 3 is an enlarged detail in elevation as seen on the line 3-3 of Figure 1 in the direction indicated by the arrows, showing the carrier-'actuating mechanism; 1

Figure 4 is a detail in section as seen on the line 4.-4 of Figure 2, showing the manner of supporting the shelves on the carrier and `illustrating the manner of supporting,

the upper portion of the'carrier. i,

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail in section as seen on the line 5-5 of Figure 4, showing the manner of -forming the carrier and interconnecting it with a pulley and with a shelf support.

Figure 6 is a link. section. i y

More specilically, 4 7 indicates a cabinet which may be of any Vsuitable construction perspective viewfof a carrierand is here shown as embodying side walls 8 and 9, top and bottom walls 10 and 11, a backV wall 12,and a front portion 13, 4which front portion includes a desk portion .14, and' hinged doors 15` located above the desk portion, andalsovhinged doors 16 located below the desk portion, through which doors access may be readily had to the interior of the cabinet.

The desk portion 14 embodies frame 17 surrounding an opening 18 extending transversely across the cabinet, the lower member ofthe frame comprising van outwardly projecting shelf 19` to which is hinged a vertical swinging door 2O adapted when disposed upwardly to extend over and form a closure for `the opening 18, and also adapted when in its lowered or open `position to form a shelf or desk as ,indicated at 21 in dottedr lines in Figure 2. if

Mounted on the doors 15 are cabinets 22 l iitted with closures 23, the cabinets22 being carried by the doors 15-to swing therewith. Extending horizontally across the lower portion of the cabinet is a rotatableshaft 24`supported atcits ends in suitablebearings carried on the side panels 8 and y9; the bearing in the panel 8 indicated at 25 being tubular andprojectingthroughthe side panel 8.v The" outer end portion of the shaft 24. projects through the bearing 25 and has a worm wheel 26'rigidly mounted thereon, and meshing with the wheel 26is a worm 27 on a shaft 28 rotatably mountedin bearings 29 and 30 carried on a plate 31 supportedwon the outer face of theside panel 10. v

` vAs axmeans for rotating the shaft 28, the

latter is fitted with a grooved pulley 32- Varound which passes an endless cable 33, the

upper portion of which fastensgaround an idler grooved pulley 34 revolubly carried on a bracket 35secured to the panel 8; the pulshownas spherical in .fornnwhich are engageable with the recesses 36 so that on movement `ley34C'beingspaced above the pulley 32. The f lio of the .cable in either direction a rotary moy tion will be imparted to the pulley 82 and shaft28 so as to effec-t rotation of the wheel 2G and the drive shaft 24. A balance wheel 89 is mounted on the shaft 28V so as to give momentum to the latter when it is set in motion, and effect continued rotation of the shaft 28 and the parts operated thereby after the pull on the cable 83 has been discontinued.

As a'means for retardin g movement of the shaft 28 and the parts operated thereby, ai brake 4() is provided which brake embodies a shoe 412 carried on the' upwardly extending arm of a vertically disposed bell crank lever 42 pivoted aitr43 and having a horizontally eXtendin g arm 44 connected by a rod 45 to a foot vlever 46 in 'such manner that depression ofthe foot lever -will throw the brake into operative engagement with the periphery of the balance wheel 89. A spring 47 acts. to normally maintain the foot lever 4(3fin Van upper-mostv position and serves to hold the brake shoe 4l normally out of engagement with the balance wheel.

Mounted on the shaft 24 interiorly of the cabinet is a pair of groved pulleys 48 and 49 whichv are locatedV adjacent the inner faces of the side panels 8 and? 9, respectivelv. A corresponding'p'air of pulleys 50 and ol are ar ranged adjacent the top` of the vcabinet and ar-e carried on-stub shafts?J suitably mounted on the side panels, there being anti-friction bearings 53, here shown as balls, interposed between the pulley wheels 50 and 5l and their 'respective stub `shafts to facilitate rotation of the pulleys 50 and 5l under the load carried thereby.A l

Passing around the pulleys 48 and 50 is an endless carrier 54, and passing around the pulleys 49 and 5l is a corresponding carrier indicated in dotted lines in Figurer Each of these carriers is formed with aj series of Vlink sections 56, particularly shown in Figure 6', which link sectionsA embody a flexible/.cen-l l a yoke, which cross member is provided with tral portion v5"? preferably formed of lwoven wire cableone end of which is fitted with a ringl 58 and the other end of which carries a pair offspaeed rings 59.V The rings 59 are connected: together by a cross member GO to form a' stem 6 1 to which the member 57 is aflixed, as by brazing or welding. rll'he ring 58 is provided with a stem 62 to whichthe other endl of the` member 57 is attached.

` In assembling the carrier toform an endless chain of the links 57, the ring 58 on one link is inserted betwen the rings 59 on the adjacentlink, and is preferably pivotal'ly con nected thereto so that the adj acent links may have `articulate Amovement relative to each other.l ln the construction here shown l em.- ploy shelf-supporting rods 63 carried by the carriers 54y and 55 as the means for connecting the adjacent links the end portions of the rods being passedthrough the rings, which rings may be held against longitudinal movement on the rods in any desired manner, they being however preferably turnable on the an articulate joint is formed between adj acent links, and the links also pivot on the rods, vwhichk construction permits ready adaptation of the endless carriers to the pul leywheels around which they are passed.

The,peripheralflanges on the pulleys 48 and 50 are formed with cutaway portions64 to receivethe end portions of the rods- G3 whereby on rot-ation of the driving pulleys 48 and 49, rotation of the Acarriers 54 and55 will. be effected. The bottom wall ofthe periph eral channel on the pulleys is formed with recesses 65 adjacent the cutaway portion 64,

y which recesses receivethe rings of the links.

Mounted on each ofthe rods 63 is a dependent shelf 66 which shelf is preferably pivoted on therods, and for which` purpose' is secured at each of-its ends to the lower portion of a hanger 67 the upper portionI ofl which is formed witha sleeve 68 which encircles andis turnable on the shaft 63.

Collars69 on the shaft 63 hold the; shelves against longitudinal movement on the latter.

so n

As a means for holding the'vertical leads on the endless carriers against swingine, guideways 7() carried by the side panels 8 and 9 are provided, into which the ends of the carrier rods 63 extend. f

rEhe operation of the invention is apparent from the foregoing, it beingy seen that` on movement of the cable 33 in either direction, asl-by exerting a manual pull thereon, the shaft L78, carrying thev worm 27 and the fly wheel 39 will be set in motion; the fly wheel actingin the usual manner after motion has been imparted thereto, to set up kineticl en erg and effect vcontinued rotation of the shaft 28 :after the pull on the cable 33 has beenv discontinued. Rotation of the worm 27 rev-'elves worm wheel 26 and shaft 24v which causes the pulleys 48 and 49 to rotate and drive the endless carriers 54 and l55 by reason of the engagement of theends of the rods 63 in the cutaway portion 64 on,l the peripheries of the pulleys 48'and 49; The carriers will thus be operated to move one lead thereof in an'upward direction while the other lead de- 40 is applied to retard` the movement of the fly 'wheel 89 and shaft 28 and to bring them to astop: By'the provision ofthe operating means as here described, anyone vof the plu'- rality of shelves may be readily brought to a desired position so as to give easy access to the contents of a shelf.'

` 'shaft A24, thus preventing movement of thev By provi-ding a cabinet as here shown, near,- ly double the amount of shelf space may be provided in a cabinet of given height thanl is possible in the ordinary cabinet having a single stack of shelves, taking into consideration the spacing of the shelves from one another, and accordingly a large capacity is aorded in a compact space coupled with convenience of access. y

.By providing the Worm drive and the control here shown, the carrier may be very easily moved, that is to say, the application of little power to the cable 33 will effect movement of a considerable load supported by the carrier. Furthermore, the Worm 27 intermeshing with the worm Wheel 26 serves to prevent rotation oi the latter through power applied to the carrier in event the loadsustained by one line of the carrier should exceed that carried by the other. The shelves will normally remain stationary until movement is imparted thereto by action ofthe Worm 27 as before described.

While Iv have shown and described a speoilie embodiment of my invention, I do not limit myself to the exact .details of construction and the arrangement shown, but may employ such modifications and changes as come Within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim :--V

In a. cabinet of the character described, a plurality ofl individually flexible links, each link having a ring at each of its ends, the rings of each link overlapping rings of adj acent links, a plurality of rods exten-ding through the rings thus forming a chain of said links, a pair of spaced sheaves having peripheral notches adapted to receive 'said rods, supporting said chain, and a carrier suspended from each of said rods.

AUGUST GRETH. 

